Name badges have become an essential part of work and social life. Whether people are attending a convention, a social get together or an office function, name badges are sure to be found. Besides allowing others to instantly know who you are, they provide several other functions. Firstly, because everyone has a small piece of personal information about everyone else, that is their name, everyone feels a little more open to other people. In a way it acts as an icebreaker. One person can go up to another and because they know the other person's name, it's almost as if they have already been introduced.

Secondly, name badges remove the possibility of those embarrassing moments that often occur when meeting someone new. This is the situation where two people are introduced and because they are concentrating on what to say to each other and the ensuing conversation, within five minutes they have completely forgotten each other's names. That leaves three options. Pretend they haven't forgotten one another's name, asking someone else at a later time, when the other person is no longer present or ask the person their name again with the accompanying embarrassment.